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How good are the monitor options with USB Inputs (Airpulse A100, Vanatoo Transparent One, Audioengine)

ClosDeBen

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Any high marks for the monitor options with USB Inputs (or any other digital input) ? For nearfield listening driven by an iMac, the simplicity has some appeal. I'm going back and forth for my desktop setup but the idea of having a good enough dac built into the speaker would simplify my setup some. Sure I can fit a dac on my desk but it does add one more bit of gear.

I expect these are a ways down the quality scale but wanted to at least ask. Options I've seen are the

Audioengine HD3/6
Vanatoo Transparent One Encore
Airpulse A100
I know the HEDD Type 5 doesn't have USB, but I believe it has an option for digital in so maybe could skip the DAC ? (granted I'm probably just buying a separate DAC sold by HEDD that plugs into their speaker. Maybe skips some ad/da conversion somewhere.

So far my looking has gone back several times to the Genelec 8030C but by the time I buy wall mounts ($110 ea), Dac (~$200 for an SMSL) it's near $2k. I love amazing sound and I'm sure the Genelec's are a good investment. Less certain Airpulse would be around for decades to come but if any of the USB options above are solid, might make them worth considering.
 

Katji

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Edifier AirPulse A100 definitely.
AudioEngine no way.
I have had the S3000PRO for the last 2-3 months, I love them but I would not want to have them near-field - I have them about 4m away. I think that might apply to the AirPulse 300 too.
I think I decided on the S3000PRO rather than A100 because of the bass extension (+ amp to suit), Bt 5.0 with aptX HD versus Bt 4.1 aptX (fwiw - Bt is rare use case for me,) and [iirc] the A100 was not available at the time.
A200 does not have USB, you need S/PDIF converter and I didn't want any extra gadgets.
A300 price quite a bit more expensive.
I made this spreadsheet because I had enough of switching tabs and scrolling, to compare:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18P1zluQxdj4KEOCHts2DeuIud5xAuIK7NsVXFMV7Si4/edit?usp=sharing

1610378346442.png
 
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ClosDeBen

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@Katji good to know. I'm about 1m away. They checked all the other boxes other than perhaps the easy wall mount part but if they're far field, no sense in sweating the mount. Curious why no way on the AudioEngine
 

Katji

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Just because I'd eventually seen so many user comments/replies Edifier>AudioEngine (or just positive about Edifier)...then recently, when someone on local forum was selling Luna Eclipse +sub for a bargain price, and although I'd thought they looked silly, that shape, suddeny I liked them with the integrated stands, and one of the forum guys who builds very nice amps and speakers said he had them in the kitchen and they were amazing :) ...and my Bt speaker had died... :) But then I found they didn't have USB input, so I looked at the others and then sort of stretched the budget, thinking Ok, it's an inexpensive way to get decent active speakers, like "a poor man's LS50W." :D ...I suppose mainly what people on the local forum had said, over the last 2 years or so.
I'm happy now that I didn't get LS50W...I definitely don't need a subwoofer in this apartment room, just some acoustic treatment. (Although even without, these speakers work better in the room than the others I have. QAcoustics Concept 20, big/12" pro audio speakers, vintage Coral,...)
So I would just get some confirmation that the A100 is ok nearfield - I guess they are.
 
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ClosDeBen

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Just saw the Eve Audio SC203 are among the usb-in options. $500 a pair. Makes me wonder why Eve doesn't have digital in on all their other SC2xx series monitors. They all say they have digital internals.
 
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